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    Bird: And Other Writings
    Bird: And Other Writings
    Bird: And Other Writings
    Ebook115 pages36 minutes

    Bird: And Other Writings

    By Susan Hawthorne

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    About this ebook

    Birds don’t fly with leads, says thirteen-year-old Avis when confronted by the limitations imposed on her at school. She has epilepsy and some of the teachers want to stop her participating in the sport she loves most. Susan Hawthorne captures the voice and longings of a child at the edge of self-realisation.This collection draws on the experience of epilepsy mixed with imagination, mythic consciousness and an intense realisation of life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSpinifex Press
    Release dateApr 28, 1999
    ISBN9781742194011
    Bird: And Other Writings

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      Book preview

      Bird - Susan Hawthorne

      Mouths.

      Other books by Susan Hawthorne

      Fiction

      The Falling Woman (1992)

      Poetry

      The Language in My Tongue, in Four New Poets (1993)

      Non-fiction

      The Spinifex Quiz Book (1993)

      Anthologies (poetry, fiction, drama)

      Difference (1985)

      Moments of Desire (with Jenny Pausacker, 1989)

      The Exploding Frangipani (with Cathie Dunsford, 1990)

      Angels of Power (with Renate Klein, 1991)

      Car Maintenance, Explosives and Love (with Cathie Dunsford and Susan Sayer, 1997)

      Anthologies (non-fiction)

      Australia for Women (with Renate Klein, 1994)

      CyberFeminism (with Renate Klein, 1999)

      Bird and Other Writings on Epilepsy

      Susan Hawthorne

      Spinifex Press Pty Ltd

      504 Queensbury Street

      North Melbourne, Vic. 3051

      Australia

      women@spinifexpress.com.au

      http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/~women

      Copyright © Susan Hawthorne 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993,

      1995, 1996, 1999.

      © on layout and design, Spinifex Press, 1999.

      First edition published by Spinifex Press, 1999.

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.

      Copying for educational purposes.

      Where copies of part or the whole of the book are made under part VB of the Copyright Act, the law requires that prescribed procedures be followed. For information, contact the Copyright Agency Limited.

      Typeset in Garamond 10.5pt on 13 by Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo

      Cover design by Deb Snibson, Modern Art Productions

      Made and printed in Australia by Australian Print Group

      National Library of Australia

      Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

      Hawthorne, Susan, 1951–

      Bird and other writings on epilepsy

      ISBN 978-1-74219-271-0 Master e-book ISBN

      ISBN 978-1-74219-401-1 (ePub Format)

      ISBN 1 875559 88 4

      1. Epilepsy—Poetry. I. Title.

      A821.3

      For the friends who’ve sat with me.

      Contents

      BIRD

      i

      I want to be a bird. I know that sounds silly,

      but it’s a metaphor. When I say I want to be

      a bird, what I mean is that I want to be

      a trapeze artist. Fly through the air, spin and twirl

      and catch on to the bar again.

      I know I could do it. I can swing from my legs,

      I can hang upside down for hours—well almost.

      I can stand on my hands and my head

      I’m learning how to do somersaults in the air.

      My teacher

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